Whispers (8 page)

Arms around her daughter’s shoulders, Gracie made her way into the front room and sat on the love seat beside Analise. The psychics were out of sight, upstairs finding their rooms. Their footsteps sounded like an elephant stampede from downstairs. Gracie hoped by some miracle they’d all disappear in the morning. After his quick briefing on Analise’s condition, Dr. Graebel left to go back to his other patient, Brendan, who was still under observation. He promised to update them in the morning.

As soon as he was gone, Analise curled into Gracie’s body and began to cry. Eddie and Reilly stood by, neither looking like they knew just what to do. The kid with the Hollywood looks inched closer to the two men. A camera hung around his neck and his hands moved up to hold it and then back to his sides several times, as if he were trying to decide whether or not he’d get away with taking a picture. Gracie gave him a hard stare, letting him know in no uncertain terms that he wouldn’t.

Reilly seemed to notice her fixated attention and turned to the young man. “Go to bed, Zach.”

“
But—”

“
Go upstairs, find an empty room, and go to bed.”

Spoken like a father to an errant child. Zach looked less than willing to go, but conceded the stare down and went upstairs.

Gracie brushed the hair back from Analise’s face and murmured soothing words to her as she cried. Gracie couldn’t stop her own tears of relief as she held her daughter. Only now could she admit to herself just how frightened she’d been.

After awhile, Analise’s sniffles quieted and Eddie spoke. “Analise, do you think you could talk to us about what happened tonight?”

Her lashes were spiky and her eyes shiny from tears. She looked so young and defenseless that Gracie thought her heart might break. She’d spent her life trying to shelter Analise from pain and fear, yet here she was, captive to both all the same.

“
I don’t remember what happened,” Analise said in a thick voice.

“
Why are you here, honey?” Gracie asked, thinking that might be a good place to start.

Analise bit her lip and looked down. “Brendan brought me as a surprise. For my birthday.”

“
You lied to me about staying with Karen.”

Analise nodded. Gracie let it go.

“
Why did Brendan think a trip to Diablo Springs would be a birthday surprise?” Eddie asked.

“
He knew I was curious about where I came from. Who my dad is.” She glanced at Gracie and quickly away.

“
But how did he know about Diablo Springs?” Gracie asked, steering away from that topic.

Analise held up her wrist and jingled her bracelet. It had been Gracie’s and before that, her mother’s and her grandmother’s. Gracie didn’t really know how old it was, but she’d given it to Analise for Christmas last year. Analise twisted it around until she found the charm she wanted and held it apart from the rest. Gracie felt numb as she stared at the small state of Arizona engraved with the words
Diablo Springs.

“
Brendan said he saw a sign for it the last time he went to Phoenix and he knew it had to be the same place. He said my grandmother lives here. Does she, Mom?”

More tears burned Gracie’s eyes. She didn’t want to answer that question, but of course, she had to. “Lived. I’m sorry, Analise. She died tonight.”

“
Tonight?”

Gracie nodded.

“
Where?”

Gracie frowned at the question. “I don’t know.” She looked at Eddie. “I don’t even know what happened to her yet. I don’t know how she died.”

Eddie avoided her eyes for a moment and sat down opposite them. “Let’s start at the beginning,” he said.

Frowning, Gracie nodded. Reilly stayed in the background. Gracie glared at him, letting him know that he wasn’t welcome. He looked back, unmoving.

“
What time did you get here?” Eddie was asking Analise.

Analise sniffed and wiped at her eyes. “I’m not sure. The sun was just setting, though. It got dark really fast. I didn’t like it out there, but Brendan had read something about the old hot springs. He was so excited that I didn’t want to, you know, be a bummer. Then we ... then we heard something.”

“
What?” both Eddie and Gracie asked at the same time.

“
I don’t know. It sounded like something ....”

Analise swallowed and tears began to slide down her face again. Gracie could feel her daughter trembling and wrapped her arms around her.

“
It’s okay. You’re safe, honey.”

“
It sounded like something was in the hole.”

“
The springs?” Eddie said sharply.

She nodded. “And then Brendan went to look. I told him not to. I was so scared. It was so...I told him to come back and then all of a sudden he shouted to run. We got in the truck and started to drive and we saw the lights. We thought it was the town, and we turned, but we couldn’t find the way and ... and ...”

She glanced from one face to another, as if expecting someone to be able to fill in the blanks for her.

“
That’s all I remember.”

Eddie nodded, looking over her head at Gracie. “You did fine, sweetheart. You did fine.”

“
I’m so tired.”

“
We all are. Gracie, why don’t you put her to bed then come back down. I still need to talk to you,” Eddie said.

Gracie nodded and helped Analise to her feet. “I’m sorry, Mom,” she said.

Gracie tried to smile as she led her daughter up the stairs. But she’d lived in Diablo Springs too long not to be shaken by Analise’s story. Her daughter had seen the Dead Lights over the springs that much was certain.

But what had they heard in the dark?

Chapter Eight

UPSTAIRS in the hallway, Analise said in stage whisper, “Who is that guy with the tattoos, Mom?”

“
Someone I used to know.”

“
Yeah, well he looks at you like he doesn’t want to be a ‘used to’ anymore.”

Gracie stopped the,
really?
before it got to her lips—but just barely. Schooling her expression, she said, “No, he doesn’t. He looks like that all the time. It doesn’t mean anything.”

Gracie ignored the glance Analise gave her and kept walking. She paused and took a deep breath as they turned left toward Grandma Beck’s room, thoughts of Reilly and how he was looking at her banished. “As unbelievable as it is, turns out Grandma Beck leased all the rooms tonight. We’ll have to share hers.”

“
I don’t want to sleep in her room,” Analise said, her voice thick with emotion. “She died. Tonight.”

“
I don’t think she died in there, Analise.”

“
It doesn’t matter. I won’t sleep there.”

Gracie brushed her hair back from her face and counted to ten. The past few hours felt like they’d lasted weeks. “There were only the two rooms up here that were for us,” she said wearily. “Hers and mine, and I doubt mine is still kept.” She stopped at the door to what was once her bedroom and opened it. Her “See?” died on her lips as she looked inside. The room was exactly as it was when she’d left. Not even dust had moved in to change it. Gracie gripped the door frame, staring at this metaphor for her relationship with Grandma Beck with a feeling akin to dizziness. She’d thrown her out, but preserved the memory of her.

Analise entered with a look of wonder, for the moment her fear forgotten. There were posters of David Bowie, the Go-Go’s, and
Dirty Dancing
on the walls and a twin bed with a bright purple comforter butted up to a table in the corner. A picture window overlooked a huge mesquite in the front yard. In the daylight they would be able to see the ruins from here. Now it was just a dark void in the distance. A vinyl beanbag chair sat next to a stereo with a turntable. There was still an album on the post and three stacked beneath. The last she’d listened to was
Scandal.
She remembered singing “Goodbye to You” as she’d stormed from the house. Attached were headphones the size of an airplane operator’s. Yearbooks and photo albums stood in line on her bookshelves, along with her favorite stories from kindergarten up. She’d always kept her books.
Green Eggs and Ham
shared a row with
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,
and
The Stand.
She’d taken only what she could carry—everything else she’d left behind. Until she walked through the door at that moment, she hadn’t realized how much of herself that included.

“
I can’t believe she kept all this stuff,” Gracie murmured.

Analise gave her a troubled look so filled with questions that Gracie couldn’t quite meet it. Numb, she led them to the next door. Like the downstairs, Grandma Beck’s room was entirely different now. Did it reflect the changes that had gone on in her life after Gracie left? Once it had been bright and airy, holding only an oversized bed with a wicker headboard, matching dresser, and rocking chair by the window. Gracie could picture Grandma Beck in total peace and concentration as she read her steamy romances, rocking away the hours in the quiet and solitude.

Now the room was filled by an enormous mahogany dresser, a chest of drawers, a nightstand, and a roll top desk. The narrow double sleigh bed seemed disproportionately small compared to the other pieces. A cream chenille bedspread covered it in graceful lines and two rose-colored toss pillows perched on top, but still it seemed to huddle apologetically against the wall. More of the ornate framed pictures of people she didn’t know covered every surface of the dresser and chest, layered four and five deep on yellowed doilies. The room smelled of beeswax and roses, smells Gracie would forever associate with her childhood. That, at least, was the same.

“
See, it’s not big enough for both of us anyway,” Analise said.

“
Okay. I guess that makes sense,” Gracie said, feeling the same irrational reluctance Analise had expressed about sleeping here.

Quietly, Analise went back into Gracie’s old bedroom with Tinkerbelle and Romeo following close at her heels. Both dogs would take up their usual posts at the end of the bed. Tinkerbelle would wait until Analise went to sleep, though, before she made the jump from the floor to the mattress. She thought she was sneaky.

Ever faithful, Juliet followed Gracie back downstairs where Eddie and Reilly waited. The house felt unbelievably hot down here—much warmer than it did upstairs though it should have been the opposite. Or maybe it was her anxiety that made it feel so warm. Her grandma was dead. She didn’t even know how yet.

“
Can we try to open some windows?” Gracie asked Reilly as she entered the front room. He sat on the couch but looked completely out of place on the floral chintz—a biker in a flower garden. Eddie remained in the same spot as when she went upstairs ... by the window, watching the storm rage outside.

“
Tried that. They’re either painted or nailed shut. They wouldn’t budge, but I cranked down the air, so it should be cooling off.” As he spoke, Reilly stood and moved to a thermostat on the far wall.

“
Grandma Beck has air?” Gracie exclaimed. “I don’t believe it.”

“
Would it make it any more believable if I told you she had it set at ninety-five when I walked in?”

The first smile since the nightmare had begun curved Gracie’s lips. How typical of Grandma Beck.

Reilly muttered something as he stood in front of the control. “Did you see anyone over here?” he asked Eddie.

Eddie shook his head.

“
The temp’s turned back up. One of Chloe’s disciples had to do it. Probably the guy who looks like he’s out of blood.”

“
You talking about Bill Barnes?” Eddie said, looking at his notepad. “He does look like a vampire, doesn’t he?”

Gracie took a seat on the sofa and Juliet sat attentively at her feet. She’d agreed to treat the men as friends, but she obviously didn’t consider them trustworthy. Smart dog. Where Reilly was concerned, there was no trust.

“
Eddie, what happened out there at the springs tonight?” Gracie said.

Eddie took his time responding. He flipped through his notebook, as if he might find the answer written there. Finally, he closed it and stuffed it back in his pocket. “I don’t know what happened. All I can tell you is what I saw.” He looked at Reilly and then back at Gracie. “You care if he stays?”

“
Are you going to write this up in your story?” she asked.

“
I’m here as a friend.”

“
Oh, friends, are we?” She didn’t wait for him to reply. “Go ahead, Eddie.”

Outside, the storm slammed fiercely into the house, making the hanging pictures tremble against the wall. A thunder and lightning crescendo dragged out the momentum, hushing the room with its ferocity.

“
From what I got earlier, your daughter and this Brendan kid arrived just after seven. Mac Conner came out when he saw the sirens and told me he’d seen them drive through town.”

Gracie and Reilly looked up in unison, both with the same bemused expression on their faces.

“
I’d forgotten what it’s like to live in a town so small a strange vehicle is noticed,” Reilly said.